i was wondering if anyone has ever done lead climbing laps? like lead climbing up and then climbing down and unclipping. i was doing them to get better at clipping(so it was on a fairly easy route) but do you think its worth the time or should i just stick to leading hard routes?

I've done lead climbing laps lots of times, but I usually don't unclip them, my belayer lowers me, then quickly pulls the rope, and I'm off again. Also this route got pretty easy because I knew exactly where to clip from and what holds to use. The route kinda got clocked in, and I oculd do it with my eyes closed. I think if you want to do laps, stick something fairly easy, but do different lead routes! It's a better way to get your endurance up if thats what you're looking to do.

"Down leading" is a good way to train endurance. However, I think there are better ways to practice clipping; namely, by practicing it on the ground.

There are only 2 basic clips: the thumb clip and the finger clip. Which you use depends on which hand you're going to clip with and which way the draw is facing. The best way to practice these clips is just practice them on the ground until you can do them smoothly automatically. Make sure to practice each clip with each hand.

I use downiclimbing all the time in the gym. There are two good ways of doing this.

1. Pick an easy route, climb up, down, up, down continually until you can't physically hold on anymore. The first time i tried this, i was climbing for 15 minutes straight. Trying to build up to 30 minutes.

2. Pick a fairly hard climb that you can do, lead it, the try to reverse all moves downclimbing, and unclipping.

downclimbing is great, because not only does it help to build endurance, you learn to make moves more statically, not dynamically, which is good to learn. It also helps tobuild lockoff strength, good footwork and overall technique.